Friday, March 1, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
THERE'S A GALLERIA in Henderson. Of course.
It is no secret that the Galleria at Sunset mall is now open for business in the third-largest and fastest-growing city in Nevada. The airwaves, newsways and roadways are packed with advertisements and people heralding the opening of Henderson's first and the valley's fourth shopping mall.
I remember in 1968 when the Boulevard Mall made its debut on Maryland Parkway and Twain, which at that time was practically at the end of the road out of town. The Boulevard was the signal to a growing but still small Las Vegas that the big time, as far as shopping was concerned, had made its way to our little desert community.
Now, 28 years later, the Galleria has opened its doors and 100-plus stores to the general public in an area of the valley that just a few years ago was as unlikely a place for large-scale development as was the Maryland Parkway site in 1968.
But, just as the Boulevard helped lead the way for almost unimaginable development in what is now the middle of the city so, too, does the Galleria establish with a good deal of gusto the coming of age of Henderson.
It is easy to take for granted in 1996 the building of a multimillion-dollar regional mall in the southeast valley. Green Valley jump-started a record growth rate which has catapulted Henderson into the lead of Nevada cities which encourage and welcome good and responsible growth. Today, a regional mall in Henderson makes sense.
But what about those who first conceived the idea of building a shopping center in the middle of a desert surrounded on three sides by more desert and on the other side by a most unnattractive and sometimes dangerous industrial complex?
That's the question Las Vegans asked about Leslie Dunn when he first broached the idea of a mall in that part of town. His partners, including Dr. Stephen Kollins, knew something the rest of the town didn't because they stuck with Leslie when the odds and the facts proved overwhelmingly against them.
When the local guys teamed up with the talented and knowledgeable Forest City Development, it looked like the mall would actually get built. But the birth of the Galleria was meant to be difficult. The recession in the early 1990s and the inability to get financing threw major roadblocks in the way and threatened to drive the final stake in the heart of another good idea that didn't happen.
The developers persevered. And like most people of vision and determination who have been willing to risk their fortunes and their time in this dream called Las Vegas, they have seen the impossible come true.
Just ask the tens of thousands of Las Vegans who have already jammed the stores and eateries of the Galleria in its first three days of life and who are certain to return for some serious shopping. Ask the thousands of young children who have been enthralled and delighted by the opening week's entertainment courtesy of Walt Disney's finest. And just ask the people of Henderson who see the mall and its growing commercial neighbors as more of the beginning of something very big.
The answer will be at least two thumbs up for Forest City and Leslie Dunn who have followed their dream, which was to build a regional mall in Henderson.
It gets better from here. Of course!
BRIAN GREENSPUN is editor of the Las Vegas SUN.
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